Fidel’s a Sacred Place in Wellington

I read in my blog feed a week or so ago, Lupas post asking people to show her their sacred places and being that I am an Urban Witch who lives in New Zealand’s capital city, it got me thinking about sacred places in a city. And what are the Sacred Places that I go to in my city?

For those who know me it will come as no surprise that I consider Fidel’s Café as sacred. Fidel’s has been around for over 25 years on Cuba Street. It is an offbeat and popular café that is quite an iconic Wellington Café, and over the last 6 years or so it has become one of my sacred places.

In 2007 Tats and I started hanging out at Fidel’s on a Friday evening after work. Mostly because it was quite and didn’t have drunken people talking loudly or trying to pick you up. Neither Tats nor I drink and we are generally uncomfortable around drunken strangers.

We started sitting out the back, away from the hustle and bustle of the main café. I drank pots of tea and tats bowls of latte we talked connected and generally enjoyed each other’s company. Over the years friends started to join us, our conversations widened and changed to include the interests of our friends and our connections to one another grew. The community bond was strengthened via the support and shared cups of tea as life event unfolded were talked over and were resolved.

Over the years, Fidel’s has become a place of refuge and community. A place where some days everyone knows your name, and the staff understand you like lots of milk with your tea. It’s a place where I feel safe and loved. Memories lay about the place, like scattered autumn leaves. Fidel’s is where friendships form, problems are solved, adventures planned and most of all loved is shared.

And not just on Friday evenings. I often feel the need to go to Fidel’s, order a pot of tea reflect and write in my little red book of doom. Other times I have meet up with fellow Witches and other magical people and discussed things magical. At other times friends have invited me down to Fidel’s to talk about things not best discussed on a Friday night, extended from Friday night.

That is what makes Fidel’s a sacred place for me in my city of Wellington, a place were friends meet, food is shared, connections made and love shared.